Low-key Cameron haunted by speech blunder

His flat delivery to a hall littered with empty seats also largely failed to rouse the party faithful gathered in Manchester, prompting sources close to the Prime Minister to claim afterwards that he had been suffering from a throat infection.

The speech was made as the latest figures saw growth revised downwards across the country, prompting fresh fears that the UK is entering a period of stagnation.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron’s team was facing embarrassment as excerpts circulated to the media the evening before the speech – which urged people to pay off their credit card debts – were hastily changed yesterday morning after retailers warned such a move would slow high street sales even further.

In a speech mostly devoid of fresh policy, the PM claimed it was up to people to “show some fight” to face down the economic peril – prompting attacks from opponents that he was offering only “warm words” as a solution to tackle the country’s stagnant growth.

Political commentators were quick to criticise its shortcomings, with right-wing blogger Guido Fawkes describing it as “nothing to write home about” and former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell calling it “really very average”.

Mr Cameron conceded people could neither “see nor feel” the benefits of the government’s plans to boost growth as they struggled with the rising cost of living, and he admitted bluntly that the country was facing a crisis as bad as that which hit in 2008.

Instead, in a speech that sought to balance a realistic assessment of the current mood with an optimistic case for the future, he sought to draw on Britain’s imperial past to urge people to adopt a “can-do” spirit, and end what he called a culture of “can’t-do sogginess”.

After a week which has seen sustained criticism that the government is not doing enough for families feeling the squeeze, particularly women, there were reports last night that Chancellor George Osborne would unveil plans over the next few weeks to provide more tax relief on the cost of childcare.

Labour, meanwhile, stepped up its attacks on the government, saying its deficit reduction plan had “killed the recovery”.

In his speech, Mr Cameron insisted the cuts to government spending had to be maintained. He acknowledged the “uncomfortable” truth that there would be no quick fix to the debt crisis from which Britain is suffering.

But the core of his speech focused on his claim that, by showing leadership and spirit, the country was not condemned to inevitable decline. Speaking of Britain’s intervention in the Libyan crisis this year, the Prime Minister said it had been “dispiriting” to hear warnings that the UK could no longer take on such tasks. He said the same kind of “pessimism” now corroded the UK’s economic outlook, amid a sense that the country’s “best days are behind us”.

Mr Cameron said this was not true. “Nobody wants false optimism,” he said. But, he insisted “success will come” through leadership from government and from the people.

He said the cuts in government spending were being implemented as fairly as possible, describing it as a “one-nation deficit reduction plan, from a one-nation party”.

He outlined reforms to employment laws and regulation to oil the wheels of the economy, but told businesses they had to do more in hiring apprentices. Echoing Ed Miliband’s criticism of some firms at last week’s Labour conference, he said: “Not enough big companies are delivering”.

Mr Cameron said Britain had “been told we were finished before” – both after losing its empire and after the economic slump of the 1970s. But while not the biggest country, he said Britain always “had the spirit”.

“Remember, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

He added: “Let’s turn this time of challenge into a time of opportunity. Not sitting around, watching things happen and wondering why. But standing up, making things happen and asking why not. Let’s show the world some fight.”

The speech received a mixed reception, with opponents and unions saying he had failed to provide the kind of jolt to the economy that would help Britain recover.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, warned: “Our economic difficulties have gone well past the point where can-do optimism can make a difference. We need policies for jobs and growth, and help for families suffering the biggest fall in living standards in a generation. Instead, all we hear in today’s speech are warm words, and there is not much of an export market for hot air.”

Mr Cameron is also facing pressure from the right of his own party, with Treasury select committee chairman Andrew Tyrie having begun the conference with a stark warning that some government initiatives “have seemed at best irrelevant to the task in hand, if not downright contradictory to it”.

There will now be concerns within Tory circles that the Prime Minister failed to use a golden chance to turn the screw on Labour, after Mr Miliband’s controversial speech last week in which he sought to separate businesses between “predators” and “producers”.

Yesterday’s speech will also be remembered for the last-minute change. In the original, Mr Cameron was due to say everyone needed to pay back their debts. “That means households – all of us – paying off the credit card and store cards bills,” it declared.

Instead, Mr Cameron told delegates the country was suffering a debt crisis and “that’s why households are paying down their credit card and store card bills”. The subtle change came after retailers and economists warned that a sudden effort to pay down credit cards would cut spending and damage the economy even further.

Sainsbury’s chief executive Justin King said it would “not help retail”, while the British Retail Consortium said: “Consumers’ reluctance to spending has been a challenge for retailers for some time. We need spending to go on to stimulate the economy.”

Shadow Scots secretary, Ann McKechin MP, said: “On the day official figures show the economy is stagnating, David Cameron had nothing to say to Scotland except that he is sticking to an austerity plan that isn’t working.”